The point of sale may be the time and place where a retail transaction is completed, cancelled, or partially completed. A point of sale terminal may be a device that records, organizes, and implements the relevant transaction data of a specific point of sale. Point of sale devices may utilize customized hardware and software tailored to a specific requirement and purpose. One example may be the early electronic cash registers at restaurants in the 1970's that may have allowed employees to input a customer's order by numeric keys while displaying the customer order on a display device for verification and feedback. Modern systems have improved upon the basic foundational building blocks of point of sale terminals to offer additional customizations and features. Modern point of sale devices may be enhanced by bar code readers, pin pad displays, and reporting features. Point of sale devices have greatly improved the accounting and inventory record keeping of retail businesses.
Video surveillance may be the use of video cameras to transmit a video recording to a specific location or to store video surveillance footage in a specific location. Video Surveillance Equipment may have historically consisted of cameras physically linked via hard cables to transmit video recordings to recording devices, display devices, or both. Video surveillance may often be employed when human surveillance is not feasible. Video surveillance may have been used in retail stores to monitor customer and employee activities.
Cloud computing may be a form of information technology management consisting of a client side computing device, a server side computing device, and a network architecture that allows the client and server side computing devices to communicate. A client side computing device may access a software platform hosted by the server side computing device across a web-browser. The software platform may be accessed on demand as software as a service licensing and delivery model in which the software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted by the server side computing device.
Presently, there may exist a desire for a practical application of video surveillance technology, and cloud computing technologies, to be applied at a point of sale. The combination of these technologies may substantially improve reporting of sales and inventory.